Washington, DC — With President Bush today nominating Air Force General Michael Hayden to replace Porter Goss as Director of the CIA, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid issued the following statement.

“The CIA is critical to protecting America, but the Bush Administration has left it politicized and demoralized. America deserves real security, and that means a new Director who will repair the CIA, stand up for the Agency, and prevent anyone from politicizing the intelligence community.

“But fixing intelligence also depends on real oversight from the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee. Time and again this Committee has shown itself more committed to protecting the White House than to dealing with the disarray in our intelligence community. The Committee must finally take the steps necessary to fix an intelligence system that has broken on President Bush’s watch, including not only determining if General Hayden is the right man for the job ahead, but also completing its investigation into the Administration’s misuse of Iraq intelligence. America’s security depends on it.”